1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing portable data carriers, in particular in the format ID-000 or mini-UICC, and an apparatus for producing such portable data carriers. In the case of SIM cards for mobile phones, data carriers in ID-000 format are also referred to as plug-in SIM cards.
2. Related Art
To produce portable data carriers in small formats, such as ID-000 according to ISO 7810 or mini-UICC, usually there are first produced data carriers in a larger format, in particular ID-1 format according to ISO 7810. The data carrier in ID-1 format is provided with a perforation, whereby merely narrow connecting bridges remain, so that along this perforation the data carrier of the smaller format can be detached. Detaching the small-format data carrier is usually effected directly by the end-consumer, before he for example inserts the SIM card into a mobile phone. This procedure has the advantage that for producing the small-format data carriers the conventional, already known production machines for producing the large data carriers can be used. But this procedure has the disadvantage that the residue of the larger data carrier, which remains after the detachment of the small-format data carrier, has no other function and is disposed. Due to the higher material consumption, undesirable material costs arise upon the production of the portable data carriers, and waste is produced which in view of modern environmental awareness should be kept low.
There are known methods for producing portable data carriers in ID-1 format, in which various layers of the data carrier are provided in the form of substrate foils, usually plastic foils, as rolled goods. The various substrate foils are unrolled from the respective roll, brought together and then laminated for example by using adhesive and/or heat. From the resulting composite later there are detached the card bodies in ID-1 format which include the small-format, detachable data carriers. In the laminated card bodies there is formed a cavity in which a chip module is implanted, in order to substantially finish the small-format data carrier. For this purpose, the chip modules are provided on a module carrier band on a roll, are detached from this and implanted in the cavity, for example punched out and inserted by machine. Forming the cavity in the card body and implanting the chip module in the cavity requires several processing steps and is therefore relatively elaborate.
A module carrier band with chip modules arranged thereon is described for example in DE 196 40 304 C2. On one side of the carrier band, which for example may consist of an electrically insulating epoxy resin, the contact surfaces of the chip modules are arranged. On the other side of the carrier band, there are arranged the semiconductor circuits (chips) electrically connected with said contact surfaces through the carrier band. For protecting the chips and the electrical connections, the chips are individually surrounded with potting compound.
A method for producing portable data carriers with very small dimensions is described for example in DE 10 2004 028 218 B4. Here, however, the chip modules are not detached from a module carrier band and incorporated in a cavity of a card body. Instead, the production of the portable data carrier is effected by injection molding process, wherein on both sides of the module carrier band parts of the injection mold are arranged and in this way the chip module is integrated in the data carrier directly during the injection molding. However, this method is relatively expensive.